Welcome back to my blog! Today I thought I would share a few tips I learnt from watching a YouTube video on how to make real lasting changes. If you want to find out more, please keep on reading!
I love watching health/fitness videos on YouTube; what I eat in a day’s, how I lost *insert weight*, my morning routine etc. So, when I cam across this video on my suggested page, I had to click! ‘How I lost 45lbs’- I was thinking it was going to be all about food/exercise tips, so I was pleasantly surprised when it was actually about genuine tips to make real changes to your life, which included your mental health as well as your physical. The video was by Katie aka lovesweatfitness on YouTube. From the 20 minute video where she told the story of her journey with weight loss and how she has maintained the healthy lifestyle for years, I noted down some key points/tips. This is what I took from the video;
- Find your ‘why?’- probably the most important point from the video. I have heard of this tip before, but for some reason, this time it really stuck with me. I genuinely believe that her finding/changing her ‘why?’ for loosing weight is what helped her achieve her goals and how she has maintained them. So, you have to find a ‘why’ for doing something, whether it be weight loss, weight gain, muscle gain etc., that is actually important to you and that has longevity too, taking into consideration your mental health and happiness too. For example, instead of the ‘why?’ for losing weight being ‘to be skinny’, change it to ‘to be an all round happier and healthier person- to treat my body the way it deserves to be treated’. Because, once you have achieved your ‘why’ of becoming slim/loosing weight, then what? Where as if you make it more of a lifestyle ‘why’ it will last for a lifetime! I hope that makes sense- it is my interpretation of what Katie said.
- Microgoals- Instead of setting huge goals set smaller ones more frequently. This is another tip I really liked and will take away from the video. Rather than setting yourself unachievable goals that are set far too ahead in the future- such as ‘loose 20lbs in 2 months’, set smaller ones that will keep your motivation levels up. This can be applied to any area of life not just relating to health. For example, microgoals set each week such as ‘run for 10 mins longer on the treadmill’, or wake up 30mins earlier this week than last week’ etc. will help boost your motivation as they actually are achievable- making you feel better about yourself/more confident, which in turn will help you to keep going. Whereas with big goals set months apart will only make you feel bad when you don’t achieve them, and thus, will make you want to give up and then have to start the process all over again.
- Get into a habit- Do it everyday and it will become natural. Getting into healthy eating or exercise can be hard, but if you power through the first 2 weeks or so, it will become a habit. You will do it naturally/ want to do it, and actually if you don’t exercise that day, you might feel guilty. Obviously, it is okay to have cheat days or days off etc., and it can be hard to be motivated all the time- no one is! But for example, for me, I have started drinking 2 litres + of water a day- something I never used to do. I never used to drink much water, and in fact, I had to force myself to do so. But now, I have gotten into the habit of drinking it! I fill up my bottle and drink around 4 a day. I take it everywhere I go, and I can’t imagine not drinking as much as I do now! In fact, if I don’t drink much water in a day, I can now really feel the effects on my body- I feel thirsty, dehydrated, I get headaches and feel un-energised!
- Have a clear plan- Katie said when she first started her health and fitness journey she had no clue hat she was doing! So, she did her research and used her body as her main tool for exercise which has developed into her ‘lovesweatfitness’ programs she does today. But, right at the start she had a clear plan in her head that she developed- she tried lots of exercises and healthy foods etc. until she found what suited her. Then planned exercise routines she liked and could stick to- which then would develop overtime. I think this tip is key. Planning meals and days to work out/what to do on those days really helps you stay focused and motivated. If you know what day you are doing in the gym you can go and smash it without hesitation! And planning what you are going to eat always helps- it stops you from slipping up ( even though slip ups still happen and they are okay- they might just happen less this way!).
- Consistency is key- exercising doesn’t have to be a 2 hour cardio session 7 days a week- it can be a 20 minute HIIT workout 3/4 times a week- what is key is the consistency. If you are consistent in your healthy eating and your workouts you will see a difference! Consistency is key in everything in life I think- it is a way of seeing improvement in anything you want to be improved! If you do the splits everyday for a month, by the end of the month you will have done it! I will definitely be trying to be more consistent with my health/fitness now.
- Track it- How do you feel? I love writing stuff down- notes, to do lists, reflections etc. It can help you on your fitness journey by tracking the food you eat in for example ‘myfitnesspal’- you can see your calorie intake and therefore how to adjust it. But Katie also mentioned something I hadn’t thought about before- track how it makes you feel. I often suffer from stomach aches- if I wrote down how I felt after every meal/food I eat then maybe this might help reduce them! For example, if you eat a food that makes you feel particularly sluggish then you will know that that food probably isn’t the best for you and your body. Also, tracking how you feel after exercising- did you get that post workout buzz? Did you feel it working? Were you sore the next da? I not- how can you change /adjust this? You will know because you have tracked it!
So, that is what I took from Katie’s video- I think there is some great advice/ key points in there that I will be applying to my life in relation to my own health and fitness journey. But, I also think the tips can be applied to other areas of everyday life! I will leave a link for the video down below if you want to check it out too! Let me know what you think. Katie also does lots of fitness/workout videos that I will be checking out too!
Thanks for reading,
Chloe x
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